Submitted photos

Steens Mountain offers breathtaking views. 

Oct. 30, 2020, marked the 20th anniversary of the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management Act. To commemorate the occasion, a select group of individuals met at the Frenchglen Hotel to take a tour of the mountain. This group of people included Congressman Greg Walden and his wife, Mylene, Stacy Davis, Fred Otley, Jeff Rose, Barry Bushue, Gerard Lebreque, and other interested parties.

The Steens Mountain Cooperative Management Act was created with several purposes and goals in mind, including:

• to maintain the cultural, economic, ecological, and social health of the Steens Mountain;

• to designate the Steens Mountain Wilderness Area;

• to designate the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area;

• to provide for the acquisition of private lands through exchange for inclusion in the Wilderness Area and the Cooperative Management and Protection Area;

• to provide for and expand cooperative management activities between public and private landowners in the vicinity of the Wilderness Area and surrounding lands;

• to authorize the purchase of land and development and nondevelopment rights;

• to designate additional components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System;

• to establish a reserve for redband trout and a wildlands juniper management area;

• to establish a citizens’ management advisory council for the Cooperative Management and Protection Area;

• to maintain and enhance cooperative and innovative management practices between public and private land managers in the Cooperative Management Area;

• to promote viable and sustainable grazing and recreation opportunities on private and public lands;

• to conserve, protect, and manage for healthy watersheds and the long-term ecological integrity of Steens Mountain; and

• to authorize only such uses on federal lands in the Cooperative Management and Protection Area that are consistent with the purposes of this act.

The tour on Oct. 30 marked 20 years from the date the act was signed into law.

Congressman Walden wanted to clarify the purpose of the Steens Act with the new Bureau of Land Management (BLM) director of Oregon and Washington, Barry Bushue and District Manager Jeff Rose.

Congress passes laws that are often a compromise among the various authors. The language of most bills can be vague and confusing. The executive branch of our government then must interpret and implement the legislation through administrative rules and policy. The Steens Act is unique legislation with unique language that has been difficult for the BLM to interpret the way that Congressman Walden wanted it to be interpreted. This tour was an effort to share the purpose of the act and to provide insight into the language that was used. Walden said he wants the Steens Act to be treated as the unique bill that it is. He added that he would like the BLM to work with the stakeholders, especially the locals, and find “new ground.” Walden also stated that he wants the mountain to be used and protected.

The Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Act of 2000 is landmark legislation that asked the BLM to use an ongoing collaborative process to find unique solutions to the complex natural resource issues. The act prescribed an ongoing management process that would guide the BLM on management decisions for the mountain into the future.

Special designations, such as National Parks and National Monuments, typically “protect” a landscape. Steens Mountain would have been declared a National Monument through the Antiquities Act by former President Bill Clinton.

Steens Mountain and the people of Harney County are unique, and the Steens Mountain Act memorialized this uniqueness. The Steens Mountain Advisory Council (SMAC) has been an effective collaborative group and has provided creative guidance to the BLM for the first 15 years following the passage of the act. Most of the uses (recreation, hunting, camping, grazing, the running camp, etc.) on the Steens have continued without interruption. A National Monument declaration would have prohibited these activities.

A very diverse group of people were involved in the initial development of the act, including Susie and Steve Hammond, Cindy Witzel, Hoyt Wilson, Shirley Carson, Ed Davis, Ruthie Danielson, Dan Nichols, Wanda Johnson (representing the Burns Paiute Tribe), and Harland Yriarte. A special group, The Steens Mountain Landowner Group, was formed to ensure landowners had a voice at the table.

So why was it necessary for there to be a special designation for the Steens? In August 2018, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt and Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber came to the area to inspect Steens Mountain as a potential monument under the Antiquities Act. Secretary Babbitt gave us a chance to pass legislation to protect the mountain or it would be declared a National Monument. The proposed monument included Steens Mountain and the Alvord Desert, all the way to Highway 78. That is a total of 1.1 million acres. Congressman Walden created a working group made up of Stacy Davis, Dan Nichols, Wanda Johnson, a representative from the Oregon Hunters Association, Mike Golden (RAC), and Sybil Ackerman (representing the Sierra Club). After six months of meetings, this group was unable to reach an agreement but did forward some general ides to Walden. Congressman Walden went to work crafting legislation. Representatives Peter DeFazio, Earl Blumenauer, and David Wu along with Senators Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden all provided staffers to work on crafting the bill. Time was running out, so Congressman Walden convened a meeting at the Roaring Springs Ranch. For three full days, BLM staff, Lindsay Slater, David Blair, Fred Otley, Stacy Davies, Bill Marlett, and Andy Kerr negotiated a deal that included the boundaries, land trades, and the name. Linsey Slater, a descendent of the Slater Elementary namesake, carried the bill back to Washington, D.C., and it went through the House and Senate and was signed into law by former President Clinton on Oct. 30, 2000.